The first round of the NCAA Tournament has come to a close, and it was a wild one. A record 10 double-digit seeds won their first round game, including a No. 15 seed, a No. 14 seed, a No. 13 seed, two No. 12 seeds, three No. 11 seeds and two No. 10 seeds.

We’ve also have five buzzer-beaters, a pair of overtime games, the national title favorite lose in their opener and the wildest three-minute stretch in the history of the event. Let’s recap it shall we?

GAME OF THE DAY: No. 15 Middle Tennessee State 90, No. 2 Michigan State 81

The Blue Raiders landed what may be the biggest upset in the history of the NCAA tournament on Friday afternoon, as they put a thorough whooping on the Spartans, who just couldn’t seem to get a big stop and a big bucket on back-to-back possessions. So Denzel Valentine’s career comes to an end.

As far as the biggest upset talk is concerned, I explain here how this was the first time that one of the National Title favorites lost in the first round.

BUZZER-BEATER OF THE DAY: Paul Jesperson, Northern Iowa

So I’m not quite sure that this is the best buzzer-beater in the history of the NCAA tournament — as far as I’m concerned, nothing will ever top Christian Laettner’s shot to beat Kentucky — but can you ever think of a kid hitting a shot from beyond half-court to win or force overtime in a game in the Big Dance? Because that’s precisely what Jesperson did here.

THIS ONE WAS GOOD, TOO: Cincinnati almost beats the buzzer

The dust hadn’t even settled after UNI’s win when these shenanigans went down. Within three minutes of real time after Jesperson hit that half-court game-winner, Isaiah Miles had hit a three with 10 seconds left to give No. 8 Saint Joseph’s a 78-76 lead on No. 9 Cincinnati, the Bearcats had gone the length of the court for a dunk that tied the game and the officials waived the dunk off because it came a split-second after the final horn.

Iowa very nearly Iowa’d all over themselves in the Barclays Center, fouling a three-point shooter with 2.1 seconds left while up by three points. But they made it to overtime, where Woodbury may or may not have committed a foul while battling for position for an offensive rebound. You make the call.

It took a while for them to get rolling, but eventually No. 2 Villanova put away No. 15 UNC Asheville. The Wildcats got 17 points, 10 boards, four assists and three blocks from Daniel Ochefu, who had been dealing with an ankle injury.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Grant Williams bounced back from one of his worst performances of the season to score 23 points and No. 19 Tennessee beat Florida 62-57 on Wednesday night to hand the Gators their third consecutive loss.

Williams had a season-low five points Saturday in a 73-62 loss at Georgia. The Tennessee scoring leader responded Wednesday by shooting 8 of 13 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the foul line.

Florida trailed nearly the whole way, but threatened in the final minute.

Chris Chiozza made a basket to cut Tennessee’s lead to 60-57 with 24.5 seconds left, and he got fouled by Williams in the process. But Chiozza missed the ensuing free throw and couldn’t get Florida any closer.

Jordan Bowden made a pair of clinching free throws with 14 seconds left.

Jalen Hudson had 13 points for Florida (17-11, 8-7), and Chiozza and Keith Stone each added 11. Chiozza also had nine assists and six rebounds.

Florida was seeking a quality road win that could boost its NCAA Tournament credentials.

The Gators entered the night 65th in the RPI and have a demanding schedule the rest of the way. Florida hosts No. 12 Auburn, visits Alabama and hosts Kentucky in its final three regular-season games.

The offensive struggles that have hindered Florida lately carried over. Florida had more turnovers (eight) than baskets (seven) during a first half in which it shot 26.9 percent overall and 1 of 10 from 3-point range.

Tennessee closed the first half on an 11-1 run to go into the locker room with a 27-18 advantage.

The Vols extended the lead to 10 early in the second half, but Florida crept back into the game while Williams was on the bench with three fouls.

Florida was trailing by just one point when it had two chances midway through the second half to regain the lead, but Deaundrae Ballard missed a 3-pointer on one possession and Dontay Bassett missed a baseline jumper the net time the Gators had the ball.

Tennessee then created some distance by going on a 7-0 run that included a Jordan Bowden dunk and five points from Schofield.

BIG PICTURE

Florida: The Gators continually misfired from 3-point range for most of the night. They missed 15 of their first 17 3-point attempts before making four of their last seven. By the time they finally started to heat up, they already had dug themselves too deep a hole.

Tennessee: The Vols got big efforts from their two top players — Williams and Schofield — and didn’t back down when Florida finally started making its shots down the stretch. Tennessee preserved its lead by going 13 of 15 from the foul line, including 9 of 11 in the second half.

George Mason knocked off Atlantic 10 rival Saint Joseph’s with a ridiculous buzzer-beater for the second time this season on Wednesday night as Ian Boyd was the hero this time.

The Patriots went the length of the floor to attempt a game-winning shot as a loose ball ended up in Boyd’s hands at the top of the key just before the game ended. Boyd launched a quick prayer and knocked it down to give George Mason the unlikely win.

Down to seven scholarship players, the Tigers (24-4, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) turned a five-point halftime lead into a blowout thanks largely to big performances from Okeke and Malik Dunbar off the bench.

Auburn responded with Heron out with a stomach ailment one game after center Anfernee McLemore was lost for the rest of the season to an ankle injury.

Collin Sexton scored 25 points to lead the Crimson Tide (17-11, 8-7).

Bryce Brown scored 18 points for the Tigers despite shooting just 3 for 14 on 3-pointers. Harper also had six assists.

Okeke, who figures to be a key figure on replacing McLemore, scored 13 points in the second half and finished with a career-high. Dunbar also turned in his top performance with 14 points. Desean Murray had nine points and eight boards.

Auburn took command with a 17-2 run after having its lead cut to one early in the second half.

Sexton made 8 of 12 shots for the Tide, but other top scorers struggled.

John Petty, who had eight 3-pointers and 27 points in the Tide’s January win, missed his first eight attempts and finished with three points.

Donta Hall came in hot but had just seven points and five rebounds. Backup point guard Avery Johnson Jr. scored 10 points.

BIG PICTURE

Alabama: Had won five straight games over ranked teams and could have made a big statement for the NCAA Tournament. Came into the game giving up a league-best 65.6 points in SEC games.

Auburn: Moved a step closer to clinching its third SEC title and first since 1999. Game had to be a confidence builder for players like Malik Dunbar and freshmen Okeke and Michell.

Booth played 16 minutes, going 4 for 6 from the field and 2 for 4 from the arc in his comeback from a broken right hand that sidelined him seven games.

Max Strus scored 21 points for the Blue Demons (10-17, 3-12).

The Wildcats had a comfortable 46-30 lead at the break. They surged to a 27-point advantage with 17:47 left in the contest by scoring 13 of the first 15 second-half points over 2:13. Bridges capped the run with a 3-pointer that made it 59-32 and practically erased any chances of a DePaul comeback.

Booth entered 2:53 into the contest and made his presence felt, scoring eight points in eight minutes to help the Wildcats to their 16-point halftime lead. The game was tied at 16 after a Strus 3-pointer with 11:09 left in the half, but the Wildcats slowly and methodically pulled away.

Bridges had 15 points and Paschall added nine in the opening 20 minutes. Villanova was 10 for 14 from the free-throw line while the Blue Demons didn’t attempt a foul shot. For the game, the Wildcats finished 15 for 21 from the line while DePaul was 0 for 1.

BIG PICTURE

DePaul: The Blue Demons need a victory in one of their three remaining games to reach four conference wins, which would be their most since joining the Big East.

Villanova: The four-time defending Big East champion Wildcats also have three regular-season games remaining. They are tied for first place with Xavier but own the tiebreaker with the Musketeers after beating them twice, including Saturday’s 95-79 win at No. 4 Xavier.

WRIGHT STUFF

Coach Jay Wright recorded his 411th win at Villanova to close within two victories of tying Alexander Severance for first place in all-time coaching victories. In his 17th season at Villanova, Wright improved to 17-2 against DePaul.

SERIES DOMINANCE

The Wildcats have won 26 of the 34 matchups, with DePaul’s last win coming Jan. 3, 2008. Villanova won at DePaul 103-85 on Dec. 27 in the other contest of this season’s two-game series.

STRUS FOR 3

Strus made three 3-pointers, finishing 3-for-9, to up his single-season total to 74 to pass Quentin Richardson for second-most in a season. Drake Diener, with 85 in the 2004-05 season, tops the list.

WICHITA, Kan. — After seeing his team cut a 16-point halftime deficit down to four with four minutes remaining, Tulane coach Mike Dunleavy hoped a trap would provide a turnover to make it a one-possession game.

Wichita State senior guard Conner Frankamp did not allow that to happen.

Frankamp scored six points in less than a minute to maintain the buffer the No. 13 Shockers needed to beat the Green Wave 93-86 on Wednesday night.

Frankamp finished with 18 points, key in a game Wichita State (22-5, 12-3 American Athletic Conference) played without star guard Landry Shamet due to illness.

“I thought Frankamp was off the chain, great, the difference in the game,” Dunleavy said. “We probably let him split us five times in traps. … He just shredded us and made plays.”

All those double-figure scorers did not make Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall happy after his team allowed Tulane (13-14, 4-11) — tied for 10th in the conference — to score 55 second-half points on 61.8-percent shooting.

“We can’t get stops,” Marshall said. “Keeping people in front, contesting shots, it was a struggle. If we don’t start defending better, we’re fool’s gold.”

Melvin Frazier sparked Tulane’s comeback, scoring 16 of his 22 points in the second half and finishing with 11 rebounds. His 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining pulled the Green Wave within four, 90-86.

“Frazier just came at our mouth, and we didn’t respond,” Marshall said.